CPTC Students Build Machine to Quickly and Efficiently Cool Soda

A group of CPTC HVAC students recently built a machine capable of cooling a can of soda to a temperature of 40 degrees in 10 minutes. Instructor Joe Lyon gave the assignment to the students involved with the project — Robert Renfro, Jan Carlo Villanueva and Jay Areneain — to challenge them to go above and beyond what was required in the classroom.

 

“Our group was able to finish our final project for this quarter fairly quickly,” said Renfro. “Rather than have us sit around until the quarter ended, Joe came up with this project. He gave us a problem, then said go find the solution.”

 Despite being able to cool things so quickly, the machine costs only around three cents an hour to run. To put that into perspective, the machine could run for 12 hours straight and would cost less than a bag of ice.

While the machine runs smoothly now, building it was not without complications.

 

“The hardest part was finding all the pieces that we needed to work with,” said Villanueva. “Fitting everything together to suit our needs was like putting together a puzzle.”

 

Despite initial challenges, the team is proud of what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time.

 

“It is great to be able to successfully complete projects that allow you to adapt all the skills you have learned in the program to solving a real problem,” said Areneain. “It reminds you that all the studying is worth it and at the end of the program you will leave with a solid skill set.”